An attempt by Illinois Democrats to generate a blue wave for the November election hit its first rocky shore when party officials announced former Vice President Joe Biden won’t attend the party’s traditional day at the state fair Thursday because of an illness.

Biden was supposed to keynote the Democratic County Chair’s Association annual brunch, and he was the biggest name that the event has drawn in years. But Doug House, the Rock Island County chairman who also heads the statewide county chair’s group, said Biden wouldn’t make the trip, which had included fundraisers on Wednesday for Democratic candidates.

According to reports, Biden was “under doctor’s orders” not to travel: